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> I think that pirating streams actually helps to sell music. At least, in my limited sample pool, that has been the case. So you say that users pirate the mus

> I think that pirating streams actually helps to sell music. At least, in my limited sample pool, that has been the case. So you say that users pirate the music and then buy the same music they illegally downloaded?

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
In my case, yes, but I haven't done that in quite a while (YouTube became a good place to sample music).
AndrewUnmuted 6y ago
AFAIK, the illegal part is not the downloading, but the act of uploading/seeding the assets. But this pipeline you establish - of people "pirating" music and then purchasing that same music later on - was a very common one, and remains so to this day. Before digital audio was a thing, people would routinely record songs onto tape while listening to the radio. They would then play this music in other contexts, to which they had no license, effectively making these individuals "pirates." Any "pirate" who recorded a Todd Rundgren song in 1972 from the radio, and then purchased his full double-LP "Something/Anything" at Sears the next week, was definitely a win for the artist, the record label, and the industry as a whole. On top of this, also don't forget that even to this day, consumers commonly purchase the same music when it gets released on a newer audio distribution format (vinyl -> 8-track -> cassette -> CD -> iTunes -> Spotify/Apple Music). "Piracy" now does commonly mean a "purchase" later.
DJHenk 6y ago
> So you say that users pirate the music and then buy the same music they illegally downloaded? Yes? That is really not as far fetched as you make it sound. I have no problem paying a creator for something that I enjoy. But I do want to know that its worth the money. In older times we would use the radio to help make that decision. Nowadays there is so much more available than what is played radio, but I still want to make an informed decision. Youtube works well for that too.
brokenmachine 6y ago
>music they illegally downloaded Since this site has a technical audience, please explain to me how streamed music is played at all, if it is not downloaded? What I am getting at is - where is the line drawn? Supposedly I am fine to download when streaming but I am not allowed to retain that downloaded file. Once the stream is in my cache, I can rewind and play it a thousand times without downloading it again, but if I close my browser or power off the PC, suddenly I seem to be legally required to download it again - all of this on a PC that I have paid for, and on a network connection that I also pay for data on. This all seems like a lot of control for a third party to demand over the internal workings of a PC and network connection that I pay the bills for. Legally, would I be able to run a virtual machine with a browser inside, take a snapshot of the state just after caching a stream, and save that to return to later? Why or why not?

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago

In my case, yes, but I haven't done that in quite a while (YouTube became a good place to sample music).

AndrewUnmuted 6y ago

AFAIK, the illegal part is not the downloading, but the act of uploading/seeding the assets. But this pipeline you establish - of people "pirating" music and then purchasing that same music later on - was a very common one, and remains so to this day. Before digital audio was a thing, people would routinely record songs onto tape while listening to the radio. They would then play this music in other contexts, to which they had no license, effectively making these individuals "pirates." Any "pirate" who recorded a Todd Rundgren song in 1972 from the radio, and then purchased his full double-LP "Something/Anything" at Sears the next week, was definitely a win for the artist, the record label, and the industry as a whole. On top of this, also don't forget that even to this day, consumers commonly purchase the same music when it gets released on a newer audio distribution format (vinyl -> 8-track -> cassette -> CD -> iTunes -> Spotify/Apple Music). "Piracy" now does commonly mean a "purchase" later.

DJHenk 6y ago

> So you say that users pirate the music and then buy the same music they illegally downloaded? Yes? That is really not as far fetched as you make it sound. I have no problem paying a creator for something that I enjoy. But I do want to know that its worth the money. In older times we would use the radio to help make that decision. Nowadays there is so much more available than what is played radio, but I still want to make an informed decision. Youtube works well for that too.

brokenmachine 6y ago

>music they illegally downloaded Since this site has a technical audience, please explain to me how streamed music is played at all, if it is not downloaded? What I am getting at is - where is the line drawn? Supposedly I am fine to download when streaming but I am not allowed to retain that downloaded file. Once the stream is in my cache, I can rewind and play it a thousand times without downloading it again, but if I close my browser or power off the PC, suddenly I seem to be legally required to download it again - all of this on a PC that I have paid for, and on a network connection that I also pay for data on. This all seems like a lot of control for a third party to demand over the internal workings of a PC and network connection that I pay the bills for. Legally, would I be able to run a virtual machine with a browser inside, take a snapshot of the state just after caching a stream, and save that to return to later? Why or why not?